Colorado Triathlon News

By The Numbers: Who Are Triathletes?

Submitted by Lucas McCain on Mon, 10/22/2012 - 07:20

This year, Active Networks conducted a study on triathlon participants across the country. The goal was to break down the participants by level of participation, and then understand what habits each level of participation exhibit in their racing, purchasing, and training.

Here is a snippet of the results from the study that are pretty interesting.

The Newcomer
The average age of a new triathlete is still older than some might suspect, 38. What is even more interesting is that women make up 55% of new athletes looking to compete in triathlon.

Motivators:
-New experience
-Charity

*Training Fact: Women newcomers are more likely to train for triathlon by participating in other events, like 5 & 10k running races.

The Practitioner
The average age for this group is 41, and it is compromised of 53% male athletes. They are driven by goal achievement, but also enjoy spending time with people while participating in triathlon.

Practitioners turn race opportunities in to family vacations most often, and bring their family to races 43% of the time.

Training Fact: Practitioners are more likely to compete in shorter distance triathlons to prepare for their longer distance races.

The Veteran
The average age for the Veteran demographic in triathlon is 46. This group most likely participates for the love of the sport, and enjoys being a role model for those just entering triathlon. This group is 63% male, and prefer to train alone nearly half of the time.

Veterans like to be acknowledge for their role in the sport, and are the group most likely to participate in other endurance races. Veterans also train most consistently. On average, 25% start training at least 10 months out from their priority race.

Interesting Fact: The Veteran spends more money on triathlon related travel than both of the other groups. On average, the veteran spends $1,000 - $5,000 on race related travel a year.